What Happened to Al-Qaeda's Spreading Tentacles of Terror?

If I recall correctly, it wasn't all that long ago that the mainstream media and government officials reported Al-Qaeda as this powerful multinational terrorist organization with endless financial resources, and enough military power to threaten our very existence.

However, the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), the world’s leading authority on political-military conflict, stated at the 2010 Global Strategic Review that the Al-Qaeda threat is greatly exaggerated.   I guess so, considering there are only a few hundred Al-Qaeda left.

"I think at most, we're looking at maybe 50 to 100, maybe less. There's no question that the main location of Al Qaeda is in tribal areas of Pakistan." -- Leon Panetta telling ABC's Jake Tapper on June 27, 2010

“There are a hundred, at most, Al Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan. There are, according to CIA, about 300 in Pakistan. They are on that border. The three hundred are around one side of the border, in the mountains, and the hundred are on the other side. What difference does it make which side of the border they are on? Should we spend $100 billion a year and all these lives to keep them from moving twenty miles over? I don’t think so.” --  Robert Blackwill, deputy US National Security Advisor in 2003-2004

Yet, just last week, according to a new report from a panel of top national security experts, Al-Qaeda poses a changing threat to America. Not diminished...changing. Supposedly, they're going to "flood us with multiple threats from a diverse array of adversaries...from shootings to car bombs to simultaneous suicide attacks to attempted in-flight bombings of passenger aircraft."

As one person asked in response to the Paranoid Parents Guide, "Will Stoned Snipers from Al-Qaeda Kidnap Your Kids?"  Apparently so, even though in addition to the 40,000 international troops in Afghanistan, we've sent 100,000 troops, outnumbering them 14,000:1.  Al-Qaeda must have super-powers.